DAY 99---DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (DAY 2)

 

        Partly cloudy and 74 degrees this morning with some wind again.  In the afternoon it is mostly sunny, windy, and 80 degrees.

LAST EVENING

        Our immigration inspection in the cruise terminal really surprised me with how quickly it went.  The 400 tour people had cleared by 5:15.  Then Paul called the rest of us to come down at the same time.  I grabbed Rebecca and headed right down.  As we were on the lowest deck of suites we were about the first to go into the terminal.  We were handed our passports by our ship's reception personnel and went right to a immigration official.  He did not even look at it,  Just opened to a page already flagged and stamped it.  We were back on the ship by 5:30.

         I changed into my evening clothes and we headed down to the lounge.  We were the only ones there for a long time.  At least William was there to make my Manhattans.

We had some potato chips, jalapeno cream cheese balls, and pigs.

        We adjourned to Compass Rose at 7pm.  Not many folks there too.  We started with the fried calamari I had requested followed by these panko coated shrimp.  They brought us two big platters of them so told Bernalyn to take one back.  Hopefully she had them after her shift.  Rebecca had 4 and I had 5 of them.

                                            This apple pie with ice cream was very good.

                                    After dinner I went up to deck 12 to get some night photos.

TODAY

It's Sunday morning and time for some caviar.  Joseph always gives me a huge serving.  I then had my usual one piece of eggs benedict.

        This is the end of another segment of our world cruise.  107 passengers are disembarking and 150 embarking today.  I just hope the new ones do not bring covid on board with them.  Pretty sure that is what happened last segment as 4 days after they boarded in Singapore the ship has a covid outbreak.

        At 8:45 this morning this mobile fuel station (boat) tied up just below our balcony for bunkering fuel.  This is the largest bunker ship I have ever seen.  Wonder what the fuel bill will be.

                          On the other side of the ship they are doing a massive provisioning.

        I was doing my fast walk on deck 6 promenade and viewed the provisioning plus this line of new crew members waiting to board.  Unfortunately they had them standing out in the sun for over an hour.  I almost went down and gave them some umbrellas.  They always keep umbrellas by the gangway.

        Bessie, our fantastic stewardess, is leaving this afternoon but still hard at work this morning.  We said our goodbyes and I gave her some money last evening.  General Manager Massimo is also leaving and being replaced by Nicki.  Nicki started the world cruise with us before her vacation.  Several other crew members are heading home today.

        After our exercise time and showering, we headed into the cruise terminal.  As you can see it is very large and quite nice.

        The MSC Opera was also embarking new passengers today.  We spent about 45 minutes looking around.  Back on the ship at noon.

        Lunch in Compass Rose.  We were the only ones there for a long time.  I had the tomato bisque and then this pan seared snapper with mashed potatoes.  The snapper was meaty and tough.  I like a flaky fish.  I only ate about half of the fish.  Then I went up to La Veranda and got a couple pieces of pizza which I brought back to the suite.

        During lunch Alin introduced us to his replacement.  Alin, the current Restaurant Manager, is leaving for vacation tomorrow in Abu Dhabi tomorrow.  This is Vlada.  He is fairly new to Regent but has 27 years of cruise experience.  Most of those years were on Crystal Cruises.  Crystal went bankrupt during the pandemic.  

        They have been loading provisions all day which is continuing this afternoon.  At 2pm they finished the bunkering of fuel which started at about 9:00 this morning.

        We have not toured here this time.  I am, however, putting the link to our tour here back in 2013.  You can cut & paste it to your browser to open it.

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5238249282069659538/1101575588900478819     

        Our interdenominational church service is at 4:30 today.  After it, we will return to the suite and change into our evening attire.  We will be meeting Marcia, Harvey, and Richard this evening in the Mariner Lounge for pre-dinner cocktails at 6pm followed by dinner in Prime 7.

        Even though we got new guest entertainers today there will be no show tonight.  Another popcorn movie night.  There will be music available in the lounges.

        We will be sailing tonight at 8pm for our next port, Abu Dhabi.  It is very nearby and we will be docked there by 8am tomorrow.  I have a tour scheduled for 9:15.